Toss strips of meat in corn starch to
coat. Mix ingredients from ginger to vinegar in small sauce pan. Bring
to low simmer, cover, and keep warm. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of canola oil
over medium heat in a large wok or frying pan. Lightly brown the outside
of the meat but do not actually cook it. This will only take a minute
or two. Pour the sauce over the meat and turn heat to low. Stir
frequently until sauce begins to thicken and meat is just cooked. Be
careful not to overcook or the meat may become tough. Add green onions
and stir. Add green onions and stir. Serve over jasmine rice. Sprinkle
with sesame seeds.

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add oil, brown sugar, and cornmeal with
yeast mixture into a stand mixer with dough hook at speed #2 (Kitchen
Aid). Add flour, salt, soda, and cayenne or paprika. Add small amounts
of additional flour if necessary until dough pulls away from sides of
bowl. Dough should be like soft play dough, slightly tacky, not sticky.
Knead 5 minutes at speed #2. Cover bowl with cloth and let rise 45
minutes. Preheat oven to 450. Divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll and
stretch each piece into a 14-16 inch long rope. Wrap each piece around a
hot dog and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush
each one with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 450
for 5-12 minutes until golden brown. The baking time really depends on
placement of your oven rack. I find that when my rack is about 3/4
height they are done in about 5 minutes.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Cut eggplant into 1/2 inch thick
slices. Salt the slices on both sides and lay out on a large cookie
sheet. Cover the eggplant slices with another cookie sheet and some
heavy books. Let sit for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 475. Mix bread
crumbs, parmesan, and Italian seasoning in shallow dish. Prepare baking
sheet by greasing with a thin layer of olive oil. Mix egg with one
teaspoon cold water in a shallow dish. Give the slices a quick rinse in
cold water and pat dry well with towels. Dip eggplant slices in egg,
letting any excess drip, and dip in bread crumb mixture, pressing crumbs
onto each side. Set on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or
until golden brown, then turn slices over and bake for an additional
5-10 minutes or until golden brown on the second side. Serve hot with
ranch dip.

Adapted from
http://www.injennieskitchen.com/2012/08/crispy-baked-eggplant/ and
http://fountainavenuekitchen.com/crispy-baked-eggplant/

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

I was a meatloaf
hater until I discovered this recipe! The muffin shape makes them super
easy to serve and the recipe can easily be doubled. Picture shown was served with baked breaded eggplant and green beans.

1 pound ground beef

3 ounces Stove Top Stuffing Mix (half of package)

1 egg

1/2 cup water

4 tablespoons barbecue sauce, divided

Mix ingredients in large ziplock bag,
using 2 T of barbecue sauce. Scoop into muffin tin. Top each muffin
using the remaining 2 T of barbecue sauce. Makes 6 medium muffins in a medium muffin tin or 9 in regular muffin tin. Bake at 400 for about 25
minutes or until they reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees and
the glaze is set with a few blackened spots.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

There are two points
at which you can stop if you want to do some preparations in advance of
your dinner. You can stop after you peel and cut them and keep the
potatoes in a bowl covered with cold water in the fridge until you are ready to
cook them (up to 24 hours) or you can stop after you drain the cooked
potatoes and keep them in a covered bowl in the fridge until you are
ready to return them to a pot to heat them up again and add the butter.

5 pounds potatoes

1 stick butter

milk

sour cream (optional)

salt and pepper

Bring large pot of salted water to full
rolling boil. You want the potatoes to have lots of room and water to
boil in. While waiting for the water to boil, peel the potatoes. Then
cut small potatoes into 4 pieces, medium potatoes into 6 pieces, and
large potatoes into 8 pieces. Transfer to colander and rinse with cold
water to remove any dirt.

Boil potatoes, in a rolling boil, for approximately 10-20 minutes.
Start checking them at 10 minutes and every 2-5 minutes after to prevent
overcooking. Potatoes are done when very easily pierced with a fork but
not mushy or completely falling apart. Drain water off potatoes.

Return potatoes to dry pot and return to burner on low heat. Add
butter (I usually use about 1 stick of butter for 5 pounds of potatoes)
and continue stirring to melt butter and to evaporate excess water from
the potatoes. You want the moisture to come from the butter and milk,
not from the water. When potatoes start falling apart and getting a
little dry and powdery you can turn off the heat and start adding milk
and continue stirring and mashing. Continue adding small amounts of milk
(and or sour cream) while stirring and mashing until desired
consistency is reached. Salt and pepper to taste.

Use a hand masher for 80-90% of the mashing. Then transfer potatoes
to a large plastic bowl and use a hand mixer (on medium to high) and
whip them for about 30 second to fluff them up and remove any big lumps.
Overmixing with the electric mixer will result in a glue like texture.
Transfer to serving dish and enjoy!